A Discovery On The Train
by l3ZAH
Summary: Elora Avem Winters is a 14 year old girl who lives in 1903. She is an only child to a Duke and Duchess. She and her friends get along  great but they never talk through the summer so elora decides to go away to study. While on the train traveling there she finds she has a power and throughout her summer trip she finds more and more about herself. (about a 16 min read)
1. The Dream That Wasn't Remembered

Elora was dreaming, although she didn't know it, nor would remember when she awoke. She dreamt of the days to come. It started as dreams do, in utter nonsense. She was in the sky. Clouds surrounded her. all types of birds appeared around her. But one in particular stood out, a bird with a blue head and blue wings. She tried to move towards it but instead she felt a small tug of weight and began to gently fall towards the ground. All the birds disappeared and the entire scene, the sky and the land changed. A train took the place of the bird. Elora now on the ground looked at the train. Fear ran through Elora, she panicked. She grabbed the bag beside her and ran into the train. As she got through the doors, they closed. The train pulled out of the station. She sat down, adrenaline still flowing. She tried to calm herself and slowly as the train sped up she did. As Elora looked out the window she saw the bird from earlier, as quick as it came, it was gone. She wished to see the bird again. As soon as the thought crossed her mind it happen again exactly the same as the first time! She stared in surprise out the window.

Elora Winters lied in bed, remembering it was the first day of summer holidays. She was a tall, thin yet muscular girl with pale skin and long, wavy brown hair, she, for the first time in five years, was excited for the summer. To tell the truth she always enjoyed the summer, but this year Elora was actually excited for it. Her friends, Samathy and Jonathan, both had a lot to do with the planning of her 'vacation'. It was the reason she is excited, she was going to study architectural design in london, and yes study. Even though Elora was only 14 she was still smarter than her year and the two above her, her intelligence was only matched by the smartest of the third year ahead of her own. Her friends being quite smart themselves, helped plan her entire trip. It was actually hard for Elora to get her own thoughts into the planning.

Although Elora loved her friends, they never talked much in the summer, that is why in the middle of the school year she suggested they all took separate trips during the summer break. That night they all proposed this idea to their parents, whom all surprisingly agreed. The parents saying in various way, it would be good for them to get out of their routine. The next day at school they decided they would all take trips of some importance to them. Samathy wanted to gain insight into different cultures, so she decided to travel a long ways away, to India. Jonathan wanted to improve his communication skills, he decided to go not so far away to France, more specifically paris to stay with his uncle, in order to become fluent in french. Elora, wanted to learn independence, how she can provide for herself, how to manage her money and how to make connections and so 's why she was going to London.

Elora sat up, stretching and yawning, she looked around her well lit white room and thought about how her trip would go tomorrow, immediately deciding she didn't want to think about it. She was going to enjoy her last day home and that would not be a good way to start her day. So clearing her mind she got out of her queen sized bed. Her room wasn't too hot, so she concluded that it would be fine to do her morning exercises. It consisted of kung fu and yoga. Martial arts was something people would have assume she didn't participate in, and that she would much prefer to read a book. If you did assume that you would be partially right, she reads and worksout in equal parts. Yet you would still be frowned on for thinking that people always fit into stereotypes.

After she finished exercising by the window that faced the morning sun, she went down to the kitchen, Elora always preferred to eat right after a workout. She had her favorite breakfast made. She normally made her own and on the very rare occasion would make it for her parents but today she wanted to enjoy the luxuries she will not have in london. Once her breakfast was made she went back upstairs to her room. Her room in actuality wasn't a room but rather multiple rooms, she had her bedroom, a bathroom, her sitting room and a study. She went and sat in her favorite room, the study, and sat the table to read while eating her breakfast, after finishing she brought her dishes back and checked the time. It was five after nine. Elora was meeting Samathy and Jonathan at quarter to ten at the public library. Elora still needed to finish packing for her trip, she would be going for the whole summer, coming back only one day before school starts again. She brought out her already packed bags and the list of what she needs. On the list the only unmarked words were either personal items or thing she would have used today or tomorrow before she left. Elora got to work on what she needed to pack making sure to keep an eye on the time.


	2. The Pond

Elora completely finished packing, that is of course except for the carry on bag she would be using all throughout her trip. It would be filled with such things as; books, a notepad, quill and ink, snacks and other essentials. Quickly she glanced at the time after putting the packed bags on the floor. It was ten thirty-eight. Perfect, she thought as she grabbed her bag and left the house through the back door, her parents didn't know or need to know that she was leaving the house. Elora walked down the beautiful back path. She always love the smell of the plants from back there, always fresh and prosperous.

She walked down the street and waved to the people she knew and talked with, like the baker and her husband, from whom she always bought the bread for picnics, And the new math teacher she was on good terms with. She also nodded to the librarian Mr wyatt who nodded back with a smile when she entered the building at precisely ten forty-five. As usual she sat at the table to the left of the door. It was usually unoccupied because most of the people who went to the library knew that table was for Elora, Samathy and Jonathan, it wasn't a rule but the people, being courteous, left the one table to the three of them and occasionally their other friends, who were always hear after school to do their homework. Samathy walked through the doors a little while after Elora had sat down.

"I can't wait," She said sitting next to Elora. "I have already packed all my things and have them waiting at the front door of my house. My parents are waking up early to see me off. Oh and they are also having my favorite dinner made, I hope you enjoy it!" Samathy"s voice was sweet and energetic like always but today it was a bit more so than usual.

'Is it the dinner with lamb that I had a few months ago?" Elora asked remembering how good the dinner was.

"Yes it is." Samathy replied with a smile.

"Great, I loved it! And thanks again for having me over, you didn't have to. I could have eaten at home."

"Of course you could have! It would have been boring, not nearly as eventful as at my house. Even more so with Jonathan and his parents there." Then Samathy said seriously, "My mother and father are glad to have you over, and yours would have done nothing special, even though it is there last day seeing you for months."

Elora frowned, knowing that she was right. They read in silence. After ten minutes Elora saw Samathy look at the clock.

"Three more minutes, then we will go get him." Elora said. After also reading the time. It had read nine fifty-seven. They had a rule were if someone was fifteen minutes late to an agreed upon time and place the others were to go looking for them. This most often happened to Jonathan.

She nodded in agreement. "I wonder why he is not here."

"Most likely he forgot to tell his mother he was leaving." Elora said looking down at her book again.

Jonathan's mother always had him tell her in avance that he would be going somewhere or he wouldn't be aloud to leave the house unless the person meeting him came to get him, Today that would be the most reasonable explanation, he was way too excited to forget that they were meeting, but him being excited also meant his brain was scaterd, forgetting to tell his mother he was leaving would have been a very easy thing for him to do.

The clock struck ten, they both put their books in their bags and were off to find Jonathan.

"Will we be checking his house first?" Samathy asked.

"That is the most likely place he will be." Elora nodded.

They walked the three minutes to his house talking about things they will miss throughout the summer. The main thing Elora was going to miss was the pond that everyone went swimming in. The pond was deep and had trees that were right at the edge of it and the older kids and some adults would climb them and jump into the pond from the highest they could. Elora and Jonathan held the record, just over ten meters. Some people thought Elora and Jonathan were being stupid for once in their life, but what they didn't know is that Elora had calculated the highest they could both jump in the pond. The day before they jumped Jonathan measured the depth of the pond under the sturdiest tree. After talking about swimming Samathy said, "Why don't we spend our last day home at the pond?"

"That's a good idea." Elora pondered why they should not and came up with nothing.

They walked up to the door of Jonathan's house and knocked. Footsteps came from inside it was his mother by the sounds of it. She opened the door and smiled at the two girls.

'Hold on a moment." She turned around and called Jonathan down. "He will be with you in a minute, come in while you wait." The girls walk in and Jonathan's mother closed the door and went back to what she had been doing. Jonathan came down the stairs to the right of where the two were standing a few seconds later. He waved kindly at the two.

"Thank you so much. I forgot to tell my mom we were meeting." Unsurprisingly Elora was right.

"We guessed that." Samathy said. "But we also want to know if you want to go to the pond for this afternoon. We were discussing It on our way here, and it normally gets hotter in the lunch hours."

"Absolutely." He said "let me change and get my things then we can go." Jonathan stopped for a moment of consideration. "Will you two need to get you swimwear?"

"I will not, I start carrying my swimsuit the day the pond opens for the summer." Elora said. "What about you Samathy?

"I do need to get mine," she paused, "I had completely forgotten that you did that Elora."

"Both of you forgot! What great friends I have." Elora teased crossing her arms and looked away in disgust. The others both laughed and Jonathan moved his hand as to dismiss the notion, he went upstairs to get his things still smiling.

Once he came back down they all left and went to Samathy's house. It didn't take that long because it was close to Jonathan's and was in the same direction as the pond. When they arrive at the house Samathy, she and Elora changed and they left for the pond. When they arrived there was only a couple others there. And as predicted it got warmer.

"I have an idea." Elora said with a wicked grin. Jonathan raised one of his eyebrow. "Why don't we jump into the pond off that tree." she pointed to the tree right beside them. It leaned over the pond farther than any other and was about four meters from the water "You know now that I think about it nevermind, Samathy could never do it and we wouldn't want to leave her out."

"Now what is that supposed to mean?" Samathy said questioningly.

"No your right Elora," Jonathan added, catching on to what she was doing. "She is always whining."

"WHAT DID YOU SAY!?" Samathy said. Then she ran to the tree Elora had just pointed to and jumped right into the water. When she resurfaced "COLD!" was the only thing she could scream. She ran out of the water and jumped up and down.

"See what we mean," jonathan laughed. "your always winning."

"Find, let us see you go then!" replied Samathy, still shivering and Elora still laughing.

"I will." and with that he walked over to the tree, climbed up onto it and got into position. He looked at the other two and called, "One, two, three!" And with that he jumped into the water. Instead of resurfacing like Samathy did he swam right over to the girls and got out of the water. "She was right you know," he said calmly. "It is bloody cold." Samathy burst into laughter. "That's fine, laugh all you want but lets see Elora jump in."

"Knowing you two this will not be cold at all." Elora jokes. She went over and climbed the tree, found the right spot and dived in. She felt her body hit the cold water, and went under the surface, Elora dove furter. To her it felt nice, it was refreshing. Not only that but under the water, if she opened her eyes in the clear water, she could see the light from the afternoon sun refracting in the pond, there were a few small fish swimming around as well. She found it very peaceful. She resurfaced. "It was not that cold, it is nice."

"Now get out of the water and say your not cold." jonathan said

"No, then I will actually be. You both should to come back in, it is warmer." And they did.

The three swam for a while and when they got tired, they got out and read for the rest of the afternoon with the occasional swimming break to cool down. At six o'clock, after spending over seven hours at the pond reading, talking and of course swimming Jonathan said, "My mother and father said before you arrived that they wanted me to be at the house for six thirty so we can prepare to go over to your house for seven." He said gesturing to samathy.

"Yes," Elora said. "I should also return to my house to change into my dinner clothing." With little further discussion they left the pond to prepare for their evening meal.

 ** _Please review, any feedback is appreciated!_**


	3. the Thomsoms

Elora had just gotten home. She sat in the bath and was relaxing in the bubbles. Her hair was up and she lay with back against the end. She never took bubble baths but today was special. Once she thought it was time for her to get out she did. She got dressed. She wore a wonderful dress that was a vibrantly memorizing shade of red and was longer in the back and shorter in the front, this meant it was better for the hot weather.

Elora grabbed her bag and went downstairs to the sitting room to wait until she needed to leave. Unfortunately when she got there she saw her parents. But it was too late to turn around, they had already seen her.

"Elora, are you still attending the dinner tonight?" Her father asked.

"Yes I am, father." She answered politely.

"Good, we are going to a dinner ourselves and would of preferred you not have come with us uninvitedly." Her mother said, then continued. "We also wanted to give you this gift," She gestured to Elora's father.

He had a small box in his hand, "This," He said. "Is for you birthday, we know it will be over the summer, while you are away, so we are giving it to you now, we won't see you again before you leave, because as you mother said we are going to a dinner and won't be back until it is late." He handed the gift to his daughter. "Do not open it until you birthday."

"Thank you mother and thank you father."

"Now, go and pack it." Her mother said and Elora went back up to her room.

While walking up the stairs she wonders what it could be. She never received any proper gifts from her parents. It was normally some new privileged. For example last year she got permission to stay out as long as she would like, she was previously only able to stay out until ten. Elora decided to tap the box. She was never able to resist her own curiosity. When she taped the box it sounded it had something soft. Like packaging or Cotton, but it was heavy. She thought all, it could be a pendent or Something similar. She arrived at her room and walked into her bedroom. All her bags neatly organized on the floor at the foot of her bed. She opened the big wood trunk with her name and placed the little box within the gaps of the folded clothing. She closed the trunk and secured the lock.

Elora sat on her bed and closed her eyes, thinking of nothing. She enjoyed letting the warm sun and cold breeze hit her skin. A quiet and peaceful minute passed when she heard someone in the hall pass by her room, it was the maid Gabriela. She was the only one other then her mother who wore heels. The sound of the foot steps faded and Elora opens her eyes and looked at the time, it was time for her to leave. She left her room and made her way down stairs. While she passed by the sitting room Elora glanced over to see if her parents were there, and as she expected they were not.

When she walked past the next hall she saw the tail end of her mother's dress turn the corner. Elora expected that they had gone to get ready for their dinner. She walked to the front door, down the path and then the street that was always walked quietly. She arrived at Samathys beautiful house. Elora always enjoyed visiting at her friends house not only because they were friend but also because Samathys house was on of the few architectural marvels in the area.

Elora walked up to the door of Samathys house, and knocked. while waiting the quick minute she notested a small brown bird, it looked as if it was a song sparrow. Out of the corner of her eyes she looked at the bird and it appeared to be gently staring at her. Elora felt something was off about the bird but cold not put her finger on it, she looked directly at it. This started the bird. The door opened and Elora quickly turned her head towards samathy butler, who seemed to have just been doing something.

"Apologies, for startling you and i wished not to keep you waiting." The butler said sincerely.

"No apology needed," He stepped aside allowing her entrance.

Elora walked towards the sitting room, the butler right behind her. She walked into the room. As soon as she was notested by Samathy, her friend stood up and walked over to her. In the room there was samathy's parents, two other adults and a boy of about 15. The had been having a conversation was continued as if no one had not left.

Samathy gave Elora a hug and breathed in her ear, "The Thomsons plan to marry their son Alastair." This wasn't a comment it was a warning. They were both lucky to be leaving tomorrow. They walked over to the others and Samathy introduced Elora. "This is Elora Winters. She is my friend from school. Elora this is Mr. And and their son Alastair. "

Alastair got up and walked towards Elora. "Pleasure to meet you." He said this with a smile. Elora did not return the gesture.

"It is nice to meet you as well." Elora said this and held out her hand.

Instead of shaking her hand he grabbed it in his own and kissed it. She immediately yanked her hand back. Elora would not normally have done this but two thing set her off. First is samathy already warned her. The second, she thought it that it is extremely disrespectful to do this, it shows Alastair has no respect for her and shows she belongs to him. That is not happening. Elora might as well have slapped him, the look on his face convaid confusion and frustration. It seems nothing like this has never happened to him. She grinded lightly at this thought, no one except samathy noticed.

"Terribly sorry, i am no accustomed to such treatment." Elora said politely. "You see i was taught it was disrespectful to do such a thing. But i must be mistaken, for a boy of such etiquette must know better." This comment caught the attention of his parents.

It seemed his father is a quicker thinker than the rest. "No, of course it is. Alastair, apologize." It showed this was the first time anyone had commented on his sons improper behavior.

"Umm, i, i am terribly sorry." Alastair managed.

"It is fine," She held out her hand. "Nice to meet you Alastair." Elora smiled, this time he shook her hand.

At that moment the jonathan and his parents came into the room. Samathy walked up to him. She quietly said welcomed them and introduced them to the Thomsons. No less than a minute later the butler came in and announced they were now to move into the dining room.


End file.
